Can't Catch a Break Re-write
by RayvnAshes2
Summary: The war is over, the camps are united, and life is as good as it gets, for a demigod at least. But when Nico gets trapped in the game Sword Art Online, it becomes a death game. Because if you die in the game, you also die in real life. And what do his friends and family think about all of this? Slash. Solangelo, Frazel, Jasper, Caleo, Percabeth, Asuna x Kirito, etcetera.
1. Link Start: Town of Beginnings!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online, anything of Rick Riordan's, or really anything else you see. For example, I'll probably take some monsters, equipment, quests, and maybe even NPCs from games I used to play such as Adventure Quest and Runescape.**

 **Warning: angst, death, non-graphic murder (not yet, anyway), violence, etcetera**

 **Yes, a re-write! I wasn't happy with the original version of this story, and realized I'd half-assed it a lot, so here is my second attempt.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _In 2016, mankind finally built a full virtual environment._

* * *

Nico felt a small smile tug at his lips as he carefully opened the package in his hands.

'Damn tape.' He thought, too stubborn to get a pair of scissors and open it the easy way.

Still, what kind of demigod would he be if he couldn't even open a cardboard box?

And so after a few moments it was finally open, no scissors or other blades needed.

Feeling accomplished, Nico took the item outs out of the box…to see what looked like a strange motorcycle helmet, along with a DVD case for the game Sword Art Online, otherwise known as SAO.

There had only been 10,000 copies released so far, but Nico had some rather _high up_ connections in the world, so it hadn't taken long to get himself a copy, and he couldn't wait to try it.

All the adventure of a quest—or, really, just going outside of the camps if you were a demigod—monsters and all, but without the risk of dying.

Besides, as someone whose experience with any kind of game was limited to retro games in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, war games like Capture the Flag, and Mythomagic, which was only a card game…this would be an entirely new experience.

Should be interesting.

* * *

"Nerve Gear…" Nico murmured quietly to himself, examining the helmet that had come with the game.

The things that mankind had managed to create since he was a child growing up in the 1930's really amazed him, sometimes.

Anyway.

The Son of Hades followed the directions, struggling slightly due to his dyslexia, though considering that the game had been released in Japan he was lucky that he had managed to get the instructions in English in the first place.

He put the helmet on, ignoring the odd feeling, since this wasn't the same type of helmet he (occasionally) used in battle, and pat himself down so that the Nerve Gear could calibrate his body measurements.

He couldn't help but wonder why it mattered.

After all, he would be using an avatar the entire time.

"Link Start!" he used the verbal command once the Nerve Gear was finished assimilating the information.

Nico inhaled sharply as he saw the loading screens sync his senses to the game.

Or he would have, had he still been in his body.

This was…trippy.

Seeing that he would have to create a profile, Nico answered the questions when prompted.

Language?

English.

Ancient Greek would have been a better choice, but of course they weren't options.

He could speak Italian just as well as English, of course, but since his problem was reading anything but Ancient Greek characters, that wouldn't help. And even if he could understand and, for the most part, speak Latin, he couldn't read it either, because of course that wasn't written in Ancient Greek characters.

Nico went through the process, creating his avatar (black hair, dark eyes, and healthier looking than he actually was) before being prompted to choose a name.

He pondered that one for a few minutes.

He didn't want to use his real name, which was always a bad idea for this kind of thing.

Son of Hades?

Bad idea. There might be other demigods, or any number of 'mythological' creatures playing the game, though at least the larger ones wouldn't be able to put on the Nerve Gear in the first place.

Ghost King?

Lame.

Something that he could learn to respond to quickly, but still paid homage to the Greeks…

He typed in the name as it came to him, and was then assaulted by bursts of color.

 _Welcome to Sword Art Online!_

* * *

He blinked as he found himself in the middle of what he supposed was the town square of wherever the game had spawned him.

He blinked slowly as he glanced around, breath catching quietly as he took in his surroundings.

It seemed so… _real._

He would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between this world and the real one.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as a familiar feeling made itself known.

Why could he still feel people's life forces?

That shouldn't be possible, considering this was all virtual.

And why had they acted up, just now?

Sure, people died all the time in video games, but they didn't _actually_ die.

That…was more than a little worrying.

Nico groaned, realizing that, like every other demigod on the planet, things were probably about to go to hell. 'I need to get out of here…'

But when he pulled up his menu, the log out button was grayed out, and the Game Master didn't respond when he tried getting a hold of them.

"Fuck…" Nico breathed out.

Here he was, stuck inside of a game for however long, and he could feel people's life forces fading from existence every once in a while, something that should be _impossible._

Something big was about to happen.

* * *

And so Nico found himself working much harder than he normally would have to gain experience and 'col,' the money in this world, trying to ignore the occasional _pang_ he felt as someone died.

His weapon quickly wore down, since the equipment in SAO only had so much durability, but his armor and other clothing was good as new.

After all, he had more than a little experience fighting with monsters, so it wasn't like he couldn't evade attacks as basic as the ones the opponent's he'd had so far had been giving.

* * *

Deep in the Cardinal System of the game, a small girl watched what was happening to every player who had logged onto SAO, humming to herself as she contented herself to wait to be needed by those same players.

Glancing at one screen in particular, her eyes widened in awe and surprise as she saw the player's stats, which were listed beside him on the screen.

He wasn't a beta tester; that much she knew.

But he was so _strong_!

Oh, but it wasn't his level that had caught her attention. No one had had enough time to get very powerful in that respect.

But the physical capabilities that his stats displayed!

He was strong, very strong, and quick, too. Agile, and able to both attack and defend without the game's system helping him out. Half the time, he didn't even bother using a sword skill, but still managed to deal his opponents' relatively devastating blows.

…Wow.

She didn't know very much about humans, outside of her specialty as a sort of in-game therapist, but she'd been under the impression that the larger ones usually had more power.

So how did this small teenager get to be so strong?

She contemplated sending a message to the Game Master informing him of the anomaly, but decided against it.

After all, the player himself was an anomaly.

It wasn't some sort of glitch, so he likely wouldn't care, and he had more pressing concerns than a curiosity of hers.

"Implement the Forced Transport." As she thought of her creator, his voice rang throughout her 'home.'

"Yes, sir!" she said with a cheerful salute, snapping her fingers and causing everyone still logged into the game to be teleported back to the town square in the Town of Beginnings.

She wondered what he was planning.

Some sort of welcome event, maybe?

* * *

Nico stared into the distance as he processed Kayaba, the Game Master's, words.

They were unable to log out of SAO until they made it through all one hundred floors of Aincrad and beat the final boss.

If you were killed, the Nerve Gear would kill you.

If someone from the real world tried to remove the Nerve Gear, it would kill you.

Hundreds of people had already died, and the people in the real world had been told first, since those news reports were already up and Kayaba had assured them that it was unlikely that anyone would remove the helmets, at this point in time.

So his Death Sense hadn't been wrong.

Those people whose souls he felt fade really _had_ died.

He wished he could say he was surprised, but if there was one thing he had learned over the years, it was to trust his abilities.

A thought struck him, and he flinched as if it were a physical blow.

The people in the real world already knew.

Did his friends?

His sister, Hazel, or honorary siblings, Jason and Reyna?

What about his father, Hades?

…Did Will?

As he thought of the blonde Son of Apollo, he calmed slightly, muscles slowly relaxing.

Well, assuming they knew not to remove the Nerve Gear, his real body would be fine.

After all, there was a child of Apollo, the god of medicine, who irritatingly seemed to have a vested interest in Nico's health, though he was still baffled as to why.

Now he just had to worry about surviving in the game itself.

Of course, as he thought that, he saw two males, one who looked to be slightly older than him and the other who looked to be in his twenties, sneak out of the square.

He followed.

* * *

As per Nico's thoughts, his friends in the real world had indeed heard about how Akihika Kayaba was holding 10,000 people hostage in the game Sword Art Online.

But only one of them knew that Nico was one of the aforementioned hostages.

In California, a young dark skinned girl with cinnamon-colored hair and gold eyes felt faint as she watched the news report.

SAO. Hostage. Brain destroyed.

Nico.

She wondered why her body seemed so heavy, why her vision was blacking out slightly.

Why was Gwen frantically shaking her?

And then she realized.

She couldn't breathe.

Try as she might, her lungs weren't following her commands.

Luckily, there was a daughter of Apollo nearby, and air was soon forced back into her lungs.

Now that her body was obeying her again, Hazel abruptly stood up, startling the people who surrounded her, and they all stared at here worriedly.

"Where are Frank and Reyna?" she demanded.

The others stared at her in bewilderment as Gwen tried to get Hazel to sit back down, since she apparently wasn't feeling well.

The Daughter of Pluto waved her off impatiently. "Where. Are. They?"

"T-the armory, I think." One of them answered hesitantly. "Taking inventory."

Hazel nodded sharply before breaking through the wall of people in front of her and running towards the armory, pulling out her cell phone and calling Annabeth as she went.

Cell phones were dangerous for demigods, true, but she was safe at camp, so it didn't matter.

"Hazel!" Annabeth asked as she picked up. "Have you seen the news?! I wonder if the creator is a demigod. Athena or Hephaestus, maybe…"

"Annabeth, get to Cabin 13." Hazel demanded. "NOW. Bring Will, and don't let anyone else in."

There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Hazel, what's wrong?" Annabeth asked worriedly, and Hazel could hear the other girl's feet pounding on the ground as she (presumably) ran to the infirmary to find Will.

Hazel's throat suddenly felt dry as she finally got to the armory, and Frank and Reyna turned to her with curious eyes.

"Nico planned to log into Sword Art Online earlier this afternoon."

She was prepared to explain to the others, who were obviously busy, but it was unnecessary, as her friend and boyfriend had been watching the news before deciding to distract themselves with work.

Reyna dropped her clipboard, the usually stoic praetor's eyes widening in shock and horror, an expression matched by Frank, and Hazel was sure Annabeth, though she couldn't see her.

She heard a tinny sound as Annabeth gasped. "Oh my gods."

Hazel had a feeling the blonde Daughter of Athena was running even faster, now.

"Whatever you do, don't remove the helmet!" Hazel begged into her phone, tears in her eyes as Frank immediately wrapped his arms around her and Reyna ran outside to arrange for them to have a 'leave of absence' to go to Camp Half-Blood all the way in New York.

* * *

 **Please review!**

 **Next Chapter: Will finds out, and Nico meets Kirito!**

 **Nico won't be feeling people die quite as often now that people both in the game and in real life know about the dangers, but given how many people died before Kayaba's announcement, you bet he was feeling it early on.**

 **Also, I adjusted the very first sentence, changing it from the year 2022 like in canon to 2016, which of course is this year, and I figured if I want Nico to still be younger than Kirito, and I don't imagine the Percy Jackson or Heroes of Olympus books take place that far into the future, I'd better change it.**


	2. Parties and Late Night Discussions

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sword Art Online, anything by Rick Riordan, or…anything, really. I'll be taking some stuff like equipment, items, and quest ideas from games like Runescape and Adventure Quest, too, so…**

 **Warnings: angst, mentions of death, etc.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Nico watched the two males interact with sympathetic eyes, noticing the sad and pained look in the younger boy's own as he watched his friend go back to the town square, having declined his offer to join the younger one and get to the next town before resources ran out.

"It was his decision; there's nothing you could have done to change it. Free will, and all that." He spoke up, quickly jumping back when the other boy turned towards him, swinging his sword. "Uh…sorry. Guess I should probably get into the habit of announcing my presence, now…"

The other boy stared at him, calming down slightly as he saw Nico's cursor, meaning that he was another player, not an NPC.

"No, it was my fault." The other guy said with a sigh, sheepishly lowering his sword. "Sorry. I guess I'm a bit jumpy."

"I wonder why." Nico snorted.

The other boy gave the tiniest of smiles, not amused, but commiserating, at the sarcasm evident in Nico's tone. "True."

The two were silent for a moment.

"So…" Nico trailed off awkwardly, still feeling unused to social situations from his time as an anti-social nomad.

I mean, he was still anti-social, but now he stuck to one place. Or three, technically, if the Underworld and Camp Jupiter counted.

"You overheard that, huh?" the other male said, remembering what the younger had first said, before he had nearly attacked him.

"Yeah." Nico confirmed. "Are the resources and quests really going to run out? If Kayaba intended for this to be long-term…"

The other nodded. "I'm pretty sure. I was in the beta test. It could've been changed, but I'd rather not take the chance."

"A beta tester?" Nico repeated curiously. "Still, wouldn't the quests…reset, so more than one person can take them? That would make more sense, even if there's a cooldown period before it becomes available again."

The other boy paused, seeing the sense in that statement, before finally shrugging. "Well, we have plenty of time to find out."

Nico grimaced. "That we do."

There was another moment of silence, before the other boy face-palmed.

"Eh, I forgot to introduce myself." He said, sounding slightly embarrassed. "I'm Kirito."

"Nyx." Nico acknowledged with a nod. "Nice to meet you."

"You too." Kirito smiled a bit, before frowning thoughtfully. "That name sounds familiar…were you in the beta test, too?"

Nico blinked in surprise. "No. But I'm surprised you recognize it. It's from Greek mythology."

"Primordial of night." Kirito snapped his fingers as he remembered, before flushing slightly. "Sorry. I'm a bit of a geek, I guess."

"You're in good company, don't worry." Nico snorted. "Though maybe not about the same things. You're Japanese, right?"

"Yeah." Kirito nodded, seeing no reason to hide it. "You?"

His name was one thing, but a majority of the people trapped in SAO were Japanese, so who cared if that was known?

"Half Italian, half Greek." Nico answered. "But I grew up in the United States, so…yeah. Anyway, my point is that there are probably cultural differences, so we might not both be geeks for the same reasons."

To be honest, it wasn't the geographical location that Nico was actually thinking of (because honestly, the type of geek a person was probably had little to do with where they were), but the difference in when they had been born.

It was still a culture difference, just not the kind Kirito was thinking of.

Nico, for example, had been obsessed with Mythomagic, and even now preferred older card and arcade games. He was also a history buff, though that was more because he used to spend a lot of time with dead people who liked telling stories.

"Ah." Kirito nodded in agreement. "There are indeed many types of geek out there."

Kirito, on the other hand, was a more modern geek who was more a little obsessed with computers and electronics.

He might only be fourteen, but he'd hacked into a government database when he was ten (and promptly regretted it when he found something about him that he hadn't been prepared for,) and not only knew but _understood_ how virtual reality games and the Nerve Gear helmet worked.

And since he'd been playing games obsessively since he was ten to try and distract himself, he knew a fair bit about mythology and folklore, since a lot of games utilized it at least a little.

"Anyway." Kirito shook his head, bringing Nico out of his musings. "Want to get out of here?"

Nico tilted his head curiously. "…Yeah, I don't see why not."

After all, Kirito had the right idea.

If resources and quests to get better items were going to run out, then they needed to get the hell out of dodge if they wanted the good stuff.

"Cool." Kirito said, quickly pulling up his menu and sending him a request to form a party, which Nico accepted. "Let's go."

And they were off.

* * *

Three days later, and Kirito couldn't find it in himself to regret teaming up with Nyx, regardless of the fact that he hadn't really planned to let anyone in besides Klein.

Still, Klein hadn't taken him up on his offer to come with him, so maybe Kirito had invited Nyx along because he was lonely.

Or because being in a party this early in the game heightened his chances for survival, since he wasn't very strong on his own, yet.

One of the first quests they had taken, Secret Medicine in the Forest, had earned Kirito his Anneal blade, the best sword on Floor 1.

He had been worried that Nyx would want to fight him for it, but the other boy had simply shaken his head and let him have it.

"Not really my style." He had said with a shrug. "I prefer black blades."

He rather missed his Stygian Iron sword.

And, honestly, he didn't mind Kirito having a better blade than him. After all, he was a mortal, while Nico had his demigod reflexes and combat experience to fall back on.

Not that the other boy was inexperienced, having played virtual reality games for so long that he was able to pick things up very quickly, but still.

Nico had already faced certain death, and lived.

Kirito hadn't.

Yet, anyways.

But Nico had a nasty feeling that he would.

The Japanese boy had been confused, because why would someone who was trapped in a _death game_ be concerned about what his weapon looked like, but didn't ask.

Anyway, Kirito was glad that they'd team up.

Sticking with Nyx helped to lessen his guilt over leaving Klein behind, they saved Col by sharing a room at the inn, and they worked well together as a team.

And, you know, Nyx was also a bit of an enigma, but Kirito was content to leave that particular mystery unsolved. For now, at least.

In the meantime, he would enjoy his new friend's company.

* * *

Nico's Death Sense had been going crazy over the past few days as players jumped to their deaths off the edge of Aincrad, or were killed in combat.

He was doing his best to hide his reactions to the feeling, but at one point, Kirito noticed.

"What's wrong?" the other boy asked with a frown.

"Eh…" Nico hesitated. "Nothing, really. I have this sixth sense that goes off whenever someone flirts with my younger sister."

Total lie, of course.

And even if he did, Nico trusted Frank, Hazel's boyfriend, to take care of it.

Still, he couldn't exactly tell Kirito that he felt it whenever someone died.

"You have a sister?" Kirito perked up slightly.

Nico looked at him warily. "Yes…"

Unbeknownst to Kirito, Nyx was wary of getting the same kind of reaction that Kirito had gotten from Klein when…

"So do I." Kirito said with a sad smile.

When he'd mentioned his own.

Nico's eyes softened at his friend's words. "How old is she?"

"Thirteen." Kirito answered.

Nico's eyebrow went up. "So is mine. Interesting."

Kirito grinned. "I can see why that feeling of yours makes you react like that. Suguha can take care of herself, but I'm her older b—"

He cut himself off, staring down at the ground sadly.

"Kirito?" Nico asked, concerned.

His friend glanced up, blinking at him slowly. "Eh, sorry. It's just…she's actually my cousin. My parents died when I was a baby, so my aunt and uncle adopted me. I found out by accident a few years ago."

"Ouch." Nico winced sympathetically before deciding to tell his friend a bit of his own tragic history. "My mom was murdered when I was younger by one of my uncles, who was trying to kill my sister and I. I don't really remember her."

Kirito glanced at him in horror. "Someone tried to kill you two?!"

Nico nodded, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. "Yeah. And I'm talking about my older sister, not Hazel, who is actually my half-sister. Bianca died when I was ten."

"Shit…" Kirito breathed out.

He wasn't really one to curse, but…wow.

"W-what about your dad?" he asked warily. "If you don't mind me asking."

Nico hummed thoughtfully. "I didn't really know about him until mom died. He wasn't able to take care of us, so I didn't really get to know him until later. He's cool, I guess. Stern, stubborn as hell, prideful, and always really irritated because his job is…really stressful…but he cares about me in his own way. Now, my stepmother, on the other hand…"

He shuddered as he remembered Persephone turning him into a flower.

Kirito nodded solemnly, deciding to continue with their exchanging of stories. "I'm not really close to my family anymore."

Nyx blinked at him.

"I felt like an outsider after finding out that I was adopted." Kirito continued. "Suddenly, it felt like I didn't have parents or a sister. Not really. I felt lied to."

"Betrayed." Nyx murmured quietly.

Like when Bianca had gone off with the hunters, only to end up dead a few days later.

Kirito nodded. "I was mad at my grandfather, too. I mean, he was still my grandpa either way, but he knew the entire time and never told me. Our family kind of has a tradition, practicing Kendo, and he was the one to teach me and my sister. But I didn't enjoy it anymore, because I was mad at him, and Suguha, even though she probably has no idea I'm not her real brother. Grandfather was…not happy with me. But then Suguha declared that she would work hard enough for the both of us. And she did. She went to nationals last year."

"But?" Nico asked, seeing that, mixed with pride and sadness in Kirito's eyes, there was also regret.

"But I wonder if she even enjoys it." Kirito continued, speaking quietly. "She was so determined to get grandfather off my back, Kendo became her life. I wonder if she resents me for it. And I regret pushing her away all these years."

Nico frowned, humming thoughtfully as he stared up at the sky, blinking in surprise as he realized that they were the same constellations as in the real world.

There was Andromeda. Cassiopeia. Pisces.

He wondered if, next month, he would be able to see the Huntress, or if the constellation was invisible to mortals who didn't know it was there, so Kayaba couldn't have included it.

"I think," Nico said after a few moments. "That your sister probably doesn't resent you. I certainly wouldn't resent Hazel if we were in that situation. But I would recommend trying to reconnect her if- _when_ , we beat the game. You owe her that much, at least."

Kirito smiled a bit, slightly reassured.

"At least." He agreed.

* * *

Later that night, Nico lay awake as Kirito slept in the other bed, wondering why he'd told some of his history to someone he'd only known for a few days.

That…wasn't like him.

It's not like he was attracted to Kirito (the thought of a certain Son of Apollo still caused skeletal butterflies to fly around in his belly, like they used to with Percy, while Kirito didn't inspire that reaction _at all_ ), so it wasn't because of a crush.

So why had he done it?

After some thought, he supposed that they were so open with each other because they were in a game, and even if they got out, unlikely to ever see each other again.

* * *

 **Please review! :)**

 **I know it's unrealistic that they would share so much about each other so quickly, but I wanted a heart to heart, so here it is.**

 **Note: Nico and Kirito WILL NOT end up together at any point.**


	3. A few Bonus Scenes

**Disclaimer: I don't own…anything. Depressing, I know.**

 **Warnings: Well, this is Sword Art Online, so…some fluff, angst, violence, kidnapping, murder, attempted rape, borderline incest…**

 **Note: YES, I am well aware that Nyx is female. I just thought that the name made the most sense to be Nico's username, for reasons I listed in the first chapter. Do you really think Nico would care that Nyx is a girl's name? I don't think so.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Kirito glanced at his friend, who had just made a 'huh' sound. "What?"

"Just a thought." Nico said with an, indeed, thoughtful frown. "You explained that the game got our measurements and body type from us patting ourselves down before logging on, to calibrate the Nerve Gear."

"Yeah?" Kirito tilted his head thoughtfully.

"How did the game get our coloring right?" the slightly younger teen finished his thought. "I mean, I don't know about you, but in the real world, my hair really is black, my eyes really are dark brown, I am actually this pale…"

Kirito paused, realizing that Nyx had a point.

"You're right…" he said slowly, confusion showing in his own dark eyes. "How did Kayaba do that? SAO didn't require us to upload a picture of ourselves or anything when we created out accounts, so the game couldn't have gotten the information that way…"

The pair stared at each other for a long moment before shuddering.

"Creepy." They said in unison.

* * *

"Oh gods, this is taking forever!" Nico groaned.

Kirito stared at his friend in surprise.

Not that he disagreed with the sentiment, but Nyx wasn't really one to complain.

Then again, anybody would be irritated at the very long and tedious process of killing enough low to medium-level monsters to earn enough money to get some decent equipment.

Yeah, now that he thought about it, he wasn't surprised.

Even the most patient of people could only stand so much.

He wondered, though.

Nyx had said 'gods,' not 'god' like most would.

He had mentioned that he was Italian and Greek, and the main religion of Italy was Catholicism, right? So did he follow the Greek religion?

Wait, no.

Weren't the primary religions of Greece and Italy monotheistic?*

And even in the US, where Nyx had grown up, in that cultural melting pot, most of those religions only believed that there was one god, too.

Not that Kirito thought it mattered, or would judge Nyx for whatever religion he identified as, but that didn't mean that the other boy's choice of words didn't make him curious.

Maybe he'd ask him at some point.

…But then again, maybe not.

* * *

Nico hummed to himself as he browsed his inventory with narrowed eyes.

Upgrade this…replace that…ugh, that one was hideous, why did he still have that?

He paused, uncomfortable, as his mind repeated what he'd just thought.

That was the most Aphrodite-like thing that had ever gone through his mind.

He shuddered, resolving to keep the damn thing if for nothing else than to attempt to knock those kinds of thoughts out of his head.

* * *

 **Please review! :)**

 ***Monotheism is the belief that there is only one god. According to a quick Wikipedia search, Greece's main religion these days is Eastern Orthodoxy. And of course nowadays Italy is far more Roman Catholic and I doubt there are too many who still believe in the Roman deities.**

 **Also, I know very little about, well, any sort of religion, so sorry if I managed to screw that part up.**


End file.
